INDIANAPOLIS - Greetings from Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the 17th Big Ten Tournament, where Ohio State will be attempting to reach the tournament title game for the eighth time in nine years and for the sixth straight season.

Here are six numbers to know as the No. 5 seed Buckeyes chase that goal. They aren't the only team we'll be covering. Check in all day for quick hits and videos from the games between No. 8 Indiana and No. 9 Illinois, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 12 Purdue, No. 7 Minnesota and No. 10 Penn State and No. 6 Iowa and No. 11 Northwestern.

Who will win the thing? We broke down the history and asked you to vote. As of Thursday afternoon, Ohio State was winning with 29 percent of the vote, followed by Michigan State at 26 percent, Michigan at 24 percent and Wisconsin at 11 percent.

Goodnight from the Big Ten Tournament, where Illinois, Ohio State, Minnesota and Northwestern advanced to play again on Friday.Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com

11:05 p.m.

Northwestern became just the second No. 11 seed to win a game in the Big Ten Tournament, upsetting No. 6 seed Iowa 67-62 in the final game of the day Thursday. The only other 11 seed to win in the 17-year history of the tournament was Illinois, which won three games to reach the final as an 11 seed in 1999.

The Wildcats wound up scoring more than any Big Ten team on the day. The other winners scored 64, 63 and 63. Northwestern will play No. 3 seed Michigan State on Friday.

Is Iowa, which finished 9-9 in the Big Ten regular season, now in trouble for the NCAA Tournament? The Hawkeyes are 20-12 overall and are in freefall, having lost six of seven, including to Illinois and now Northwestern. The Hawkeyes are a No. 8 seed in the latest ESPN bracketology, but they may have some worrying to do.

10:25p.m.

Players and fans wore P-Mac t-shirts on Thursday to support 13-year-old Patrick McCaffery, the son of Iowa coach Fran McCaffery who was recently diagnosed with a tumor on his thyroid.Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com

Iowa players and fans were wearing t-shirts Thursday night that read "P-Mac" for Patrick McCaffery, the son of Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. Patrick, 13, was diagnosed with a tumor on his thyroid this week. He'll have surgery Wednesday, and then the determination will be made if the tumor is cancerous.-- Doug

9:13 p.m.

Andre Hollins spent the majority of the game on the bench with foul trouble.

He only needed a split second to leave his mark.

With seventh-seeded Minnesota clinging to a three-point lead, Hollins knocked down a three with 15 seconds to seal the Golden Gophers' 63-56 win over Penn State. Minnesota is set to face No. 2 Wisconsin on Friday.

Andre Hollins Minnesota junior Andre Hollins discussed his big shot, overcoming foul trouble in the Gophers' win over Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.

"It's March," said Hollins, who finished with nine points. "When the moment presents itself, you have to take it. Luckily I was open and I got a chance to redeem myself from my earlier play and my foul trouble. I stepped up and knocked it down."

Austin Hollins, Andre's older brother, led the team with 18, Deandre Mathieu added 13 and big man Elliott Elliason had four points and six rebounds.

"We're going to enjoy this win, but making it to the NCAA Tournament is our goal," Elliason said. "We knew this one was a must win, and we have to stay focused to achieve our goals." -- Ari

8:34 p.m.

Ever wonder what the inside of the locker rooms look like at the Big Ten Tournament? Here's an inside look. -- Ari

8:14 p.m.

Lenzelle Smith Jr. got through the A.J. Hammons screen just in time to
get a hand in Terone Johnson's face as he fired a shot to win the game.

"I didn't look
at the rim," Smith said. "I just looked at his reaction."

It would have
been poetic justice had the shot gone in because Ohio State did all the things
it said it couldn't do in the postseason. And won.

The Buckeyes
shot 1-of-14 from beyond the arc.

They missed
crucial free throws in the final minute.

Smith said they didn't
score a point in the first half off of a set play.

This is the last
game of the season Ohio State can do those things and win.

"Honestly, I didn't
think if we played like this we were supposed to win this game," Smith said. "We
didn't come to play. If we do it again, we'll lose." -- Ari

6:05 p.m.

Forget the game. I focused on another tough loss for the Ohio State basketball team - Amedeo Della Valle's failed write-in campaign for Ohio State student government president.

Della Valle finished with 479 votes in the results announced last week, the most among write-in campaigns, but far behind the 3,953 votes for winner Celia Wright. He finished fifth, and he did vote for himself. He's not sure if his teammates voted for him.

"I don't know. I didn't ask them. I hope they did," he said.

What happened?

"I did not win. I lost," Della Valle told Cleveland.com's political sports team after the Buckeyes' win over Purdue. "I guess a lot of people spelled my name wrong."

He was spurred on by the OSU basketball managers, who made a campaign video for Della Valle.

"I didn't know anything," he said. "I saw the video just like people did the day it came out."

It may have been different had Della Valle run a real campaign and been on the ballot.

"I would have had to do the debate like four days before," Della Valle said. "I didn't want anything to do with the debate, nothing to do with the debate."

But this is probably it for the sophomore. No more elections.

"I'm not really into politics. It's a strange world," he said.

But at least he learned a valuable lesson about democracy and himself.

Ohio State didn't make that easy. The No. 5 seed Buckeyes advance to meet No. 4 seed Nebraska on Friday around 2:30 after beating No. 12 seed Purdue 63-61. Thad Matta made the right call to foul with Ohio State up by three points, but the Boilermakers got a great look at a game-winning 3-pointer off an inbounds with 1.2 seconds left.

Ari and I will be back with plenty more coverage after we're done talking with guys in the locker room.

3:54 p.m.

Purdue freshman forward Basil Smotherman took a fall and was helped off the floor with an apparent leg injury. His status for the remainder of the game is unknown, but he's back in the Boilermakers' locker room.

A funny moment happened before Smotherman's injury. Matta was arguing a call on Smith, and he said, "So their guys are allowed to grab our guys?" Then Matta smiled and pointed at Purdue's Terone Johnson before saying, "Terone, you know you grabbed him." -- Ari

3:45 p.m.

Indiana's Noah VonlehIndiana freshman Noah Vonleh said the Hoosiers were still dealing with communication issues at the end of the season. Indiana lost to Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday.

Not what you want to hear when your NCAA hopes are officially dead - Indiana freshman Noah Vonleh said the Hoosiers' main problems at the end of the year were with communication and turnovers. He didn't want to talk about whether he'll go pro or not, but the Big Ten's freshman of the year is probably a top 15 pick and it seems safe to assume he's gone.

He thought he improved and played pretty well this year, but obviously the Hoosiers, now 17-15, didn't get what they wanted out of this season. -- Doug

The Buckeyes held a 28-21 lead, but the Boilermakers cut it within one late in the first half. Ross hit a 16-foot baseline jumper with only seconds remaining to set the halftime score.

Ohio State is dominating on the glass, 27-12. -- Ari

View full sizeOhio State co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell is sitting four rows behind the Buckeyes' bench at the Big Ten Tournament. Ari Wasserman

2:46 p.m.

Co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, his wife Amy and daughter Luca are sitting four rows behind Ohio State's bench. Fickell arrived early to watch Indiana-Illinois, but was sitting among Buckeyes fans during the game.

Fickell could be seen chatting up with fans in during the break while Ohio State warmed up. -- Ari Wasserman

The bracket for the Big Ten Tournament on the wall in the tunnel to the court here at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com

2:05 p.m.

The streak continues - 17 years and no Big Ten Tournament titles for Indiana. No. 9 Illinois won the first game here in Indy, beating the No. 8 Hoosiers 64-54, to earn the right to face No. 1 Michigan at noon on Friday. Indiana really missed its chance last season when the Hoosiers were the No. 1 seed and regular-season champ and lost in the semifinals. Like Ohio State in 2008, the Hoosiers are taking a big step back after getting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament the year before and then losing two players to the top four picks of the NBA Draft. In 2008, after losing Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr., the Buckeyes missed the NCAA Tournament, then won the NIT. With this loss, the 17-15 Hoosiers, 7-11 during the regular season in the Big Ten, have kissed their last longshot NCAA hopes goodbye. -- Doug

1:40 p.m.

The Ohio State pep band gets ready under the stands during the Indiana-Illinois game on Thursday.Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com

Quick poll. What is the best thing about the college basketball postseason? The only acceptable answer is pep bands. Ohio State's was getting ready under the stands during the Indiana-Illinois game. -- Doug

1:35 p.m.

The pregame notes for No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 Purdue, the second game of the Big Ten Tournament.Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com

Ohio State is the No. 5 seed, and the No. 5 seed has advanced to the final once, when the Buckeyes did it in 2009. This is the third season that the No. 5 seed has been forced to play a first-round game, starting when Nebraska joined the conference, and the No. 5 seed has won both games so far. Purdue is a pretty solid No. 12 seed, though. -- Doug

1 p.m.

Here's the most surprising stat in the history of the Big Ten Tournament? Indiana has never won thing. This is the 17th year of the Big Ten Tournament. It's the ninth time it has been held in Indianapolis, down the road from Bloomington. Yet Indiana has never even made the tournament final when it has been held in its own state. The Hoosiers' best finish was in 2001, when as the No. 4 seed they lost in the tournament final to No. 6 Iowa in Chicago.

Indiana was the No. 1 seed last year and lost in the semifinals to No. 4 Wisconsin. This year, the Hoosiers looked maybe like an interesting darkhorse as the No. 8 seed, having put together some huge home wins in the Big Ten this year over Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Iowa.

So in the first half of the opener the Hoosiers shot 34.8 percent from the floor and trail Illinois 30-28. Of course. When the Big Ten Tournament started would anyone have guessed that we'd be approaching 20 years and Indiana would have barely even sniffed a title? - Doug Lesmerises

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